US bands beat home-grown rivals in poll as music goes 'back to basics'

Two rock bands barely known in their native America have eclipsed their acclaimed British rivals Travis, Pulp and Radiohead in a poll of the year's best albums by the aficionados of the music magazine NME.

Is This It, the debut recording by the New York punk rockers The Strokes, was voted album of the year, cementing the hype that has seen them described by the Radio 1 DJ John Peel as "the most exciting band in 30 years".

In a poll that reaffirmed the virtues of "back to basics" rock 'n' roll, The White Stripes, a blues-influenced brother and sister act from Detroit, produced the year's third best album, according to NME, with their third album White Blood Cells. The predominance of heavy guitar was underlined by the inclusion in the top 10 of the glam rocker Andrew WK and the Iowan nu-metal act Slipknot.

Let it Down by Spiritualized, an album expressing the singer Jason Pierce's struggle against heroin addiction, was voted second best album and was one of only three British acts in the top 10. The other two were by Starsailor, the Jeff Buckley-influenced band, with their orchestral debut album, Love is Here (number 5), and the eclectic Cornish artist Richard D James, ranked number 10 for his category-defying Drukqs.

The editor of NME, Ben Knowles, said the best albums, voted by the magazine's reviewers, reflected a return to the essence of rock 'n' roll, hastened by a backlash against over-produced, ephemeral albums. British acts such as Pulp, Travis and Radiohead were comfortably outside the top 10.

Mr Knowles said: "Because of the size of the market in the US, it is more conducive to cutting-edge music. Bands like Coldplay and Travis have been commercially successful here but they are hardly breaking new ground."